CBC greenlights Canada’s Smartest Person Junior

Produced by Toronto's Media Headquarters, the hour-long series is expected to debut on the pubcaster in fall 2018.

CBC has greenlit a junior version of the competition format Canada’s Smartest Person.

Produced by Toronto’s Media Headquarters Film and Television, Canada’s Smartest Person Junior (6 x 60 minutes) is expected to debut on the pubcaster in fall 2018. Canadians aged eight to 12 are eligible to participate in the show, which will shoot in front of a live audience at CBC’s Toronto headquarters.

The original version of the show was created by Media Headquarters president Robert Cohen, who also serves as executive producer on the series.

The junior version of the property will see 12 children putting their smarts to the test across six categories (physical, musical, social, linguistic, logical and visual smarts) for the chance to be named as the smartest young person in the country.

The format for Canada’s Smartest Person has proven to be an international hit, with 15 deals inked in a number of territories including Turkey (TRT), Argentinian (El Trece) and France and Portugal (Fremantle). Most recently, the format was sold into Finland, where the series launched on MTV3 in fall 2017.

Media Headquarters, which is owned by Kew Media, is currently shopping the junior edition of the format in the U.S. and worldwide.